Dinosaurs had dandruff and keratin-packed cells, too

Just like human dandruff, the fossil dandruff of dinosaurs is made of tough cells called corneocytes, which in life are dry and full of the protein, keratin.

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India Today Web Desk

New Delhi

May 28, 2018

UPDATED: May 28, 2018 18:03 IST

The crow-sized, bird-like dinosaur with colorful feathers from northeastern China that lived 161 million years ago during the Jurassic Period. (Img: Reuters)

A new study suggests that Dinosaurs had dandruff too, along with protein-packed cells -- this phenomenon evolved sometime in the Middle Jurassic period, when, according to the scientists, there was a burst of evolution in feathered dinos (around the same time as a host of other skin features evolved).

The study was published in the journal Nature Communications and the fossilised remains of all of the animals studied were recovered from rock formations in north-eastern China.

Mike Benton, a palaeontologist from the University of Bristol in the UK, said as per PTI:

It's unusual to be able to study the skin of a dinosaur, and the fact this is dandruff proves the [reptile] was not shedding its whole skin like a modern lizard or snake but losing skin fragments from between its feathers

Just like human dandruff, the fossil dandruff of dinos is made of tough cells called corneocytes (which were filled with twisting spirals of keratin fibres -- almost identical to those found in modern birds, and also in human dandruff), which in life are dry.

"We started wondering if it was a biological feature like fragments of shells, or reptile skin, but it's not consistent with any of those things, the only option left was that it was fragments of the [dinosaur] skin that were preserved, and it's identical in structure to the outer part of the skin in modern birds, what we would call dandruff."

The feathered dinosaurs studied - Microraptor, Beipiaosaurus and Sinornithosaurus -- clearly shed their skin in flakes -- like the early bird Confuciusornis studied by the team and also modern birds and mammals -- and not as a single piece or several large pieces, as in many modern reptiles

At 2m long, beipiaosaurus and sinornithosaurus grew to more than twice the size of microraptor

"The [dinosaur] fossil cells are preserved with incredible detail -- right down to the level of nanoscale keratin fibrils. What is remarkable is that the fossil dandruff is almost identical to that in modern birds - even the spiral twisting of individual fibres is still visible," said Maria McNamara from University of Bristol.

Modern birds have very fatty corneocytes, and the keratin in them allows them to cool down quickly when they are flying for extended periods.

Dinos weren't as warm-blooded: The corneocytes in the fossil dinosaurs and birds, however, were packed with keratin -- suggesting that the fossils of dinosaurs did not get as warm as modern birds, presumably because they could not fly at all or for as long periods.

Dinos couldn't fly high: The new study also adds to the body of evidence that these ancient feathered creatures were very different in one key aspect -- flying. The researchers say that modern birds have very fatty dandruff cells because this helps them shed heat when they are flying. The older creatures weren't able to fly at all or were only able to get off the ground for short periods.

In these fossil birds, their cells are packed full of keratin [just like that of dinosaurs] and there's no evidence they had any fats in these cells at all

- said Dr McNamara

Dinos were cold-blooded: "So that suggests they had lower body temperatures than modern birds, almost like a transitional metabolism between a cold-blooded reptile and a warm-blooded bird."

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